Jauntaroo Chief World Explorer – Top 100 Video Application

Most of you know that I was applying for the Jauntaroo Chief World Explorer position, a position that seemed ideal for me – traveling to 30-50 destinations in one year while taking photos, shooting videos, blogging, volunteering, and managing social media (with a $100,000 salary); what most of you don’t know, however, is that I was contacted last Sunday and told that I was one of the Top 100 candidates (out of over 3,000 original applicants!).

Don’t get too excited for me though, because unfortunately I am no longer in the running to become the Chief World Explorer. The Top 50 candidates were announced this morning and (sadly) I did not make the cut.

I’ve decided to share my second video with you, as a lot of people have been asking over and over again to see it. A special thanks goes out to Caroline (my forever travel friend–thanks to Semester at Sea–and one of my best friends here in NYC), for being my sidekick and helping me the entire weekend. We had a jam-packed (really fun) weekend, regardless of the outcome.

When deciding how to capture New York, I decided to turn to my friends who live here, and also to my friends who do not live here. I asked a mixture of locals and ‘tourists’ to tell me the things that they considered to be New York. The answers that I received the most? Boozy Brunch was #1 for pretty much everyone. It’s what New Yorkers do on the weekends, and it’s what the tourists love to do when visiting. Where else can you go to a brunch at 11am and feel like you’re in a night club, other than NYC? Other popular answers were: street food trucks (especially Mister Softee ice cream), rooftop bars (I chose Le Bain on top of The Standard Hotel, as it is one of my favorite views in the city), the Highline, Times Square (mostly a non-New Yorker answer), and Chinatown (a lot of people are haters, but it’s my favorite spot in the city. Why? Because I can go find the culture I love to find while traveling, and it’s only a 20-minute subway ride from my doorstep. Oh, and of course, the best dumplings in the city are in Chinatown).

I also asked people to describe New York to me using only one word; this was a quick way to sum up the amazingness of this city. Some of the people were friends, some were complete strangers, and some were even policemen.

If I could go back and change the video, I would have narrated it more and been more of a ‘travel host.’ After viewing some of the Top 50 candidates, it seems like this is what Jauntaroo is looking for.

Thank you to everyone who helped support me and voted for me! Maybe one day I will find my dream job; a job that will allow me to combine my two passions: travel + photography.